Newspaper bag by theindiashop.co.uk
Cleaning up my room made me come across a little souvenir from my Munich trip in September. I got this cute, paper bag when I bought some stuff at Aroma (great lunch place with an awesome collection of crazy gift and gadgets, must see when in Munich!). The bag is made of recycled Indian newspapers. It’s produced by a NGO which donates all income to street children around the Delhi station. Cool looking, eco-friendly, humanitarian bag, win³!
I’m not a collector at all (I actually enjoy throwing things away as I hate clutter) but the one thing I have always kept diligently since I was 15 are tickets of things I have visited and done. Think tickets from concerts, theatre, opera, movies, restaurants cards, boarding passes etc. Earlier this year I decided to give them a better place than an old box so I bought a Moleskine book. Had to work today (yes, I know it’s Sunday) but as a little distraction I put all tickets in the book . Few more pages to be filled before it’s full, making it a great overview of all the cool things I have seen and done the past 10 years.
Moleskine book 1999-2009 (here tickets from last three months)
Highlights: Pinkpop in 2000 (my very first festival), ISH Skate Event in 2001 (a ramp in a theatre, that’s cool), all my boarding passes to Copenhagen and back since 2005 (did an exchange there twice and it feels like home), Lux Debate U.S. ‘04 elections with Maarten van Rossem (very exciting times), my BahnCards 50 since 2005 (studied in and love Germany and went there numerous times with this travel card), Tina Dickow in 2008 (brilliant concert in New York City) and Kings of Leon in 2009 (first time seeing them live). Hope my next Moleskine book will fill itself with great memories as well!
I heart my friends. That’s why I always look forward to the yearly get together with my best high school friends. The deal is that we pick the most boring place (this year it was Ruy, Belgium) so there won’t be distractions of any kind. For me it meant a weekend without any media: so no books, internet, magazines, tv etc. Ok, I cheated a little bit by sending two text messages, but besides that it’s pretty cold turkey for a news/internet addict like me. It was good to be cut off for a bit and being able to focus on great people and good conversations. Besides that I can’t remember laughing like a crazy 15-year-old as much as I did last weekend :-) I needed it. Who knows it might work for you too?
Around two years ago I wrote about affordable art at the Secret Show of Royal College of Art in London. Little did I know Amsterdam had it’s own initiative of bringing the (modern) arts to a larger group of people. It’s called ‘The Affordable Art Fair Amsterdam‘ and it shows contemporary art at a beautiful location. Most important aspect though is the fact that all art displayed ranges between 100 and 5000 EUR.
Last year I couldn’t go, but when a photographer friend invited me to join him last Thursday I of course couldn’t say no. It was incredibly busy, so the whole experience of checking out some fantastic work was made difficult. I also have to say that not all stands were as impressing. Work of some people that were worth noting down (personal opinion all the way) were Ronald Ceuppens (BE, graphic artist, very scenic), Marcel Hoes (NL, photographer, unfortunately his fantastic Amsterdam pictures ar not on his website), Russel West (UK, love the technique, colours and texture) and Fiona Morley (UK, great combination of wire and canvas, hard to capture on picture).
SOHO VI by ©Russell West (45cm x 75cm Oil on Wire on Board)
'Untitled' by ©Fiona Morley (100cm x 100cm, Wire and Emulsion on Canvas)
Main question remains of course whether I brought a piece of art back home? Unfortunately I didn’t, but I will go back next year and look for something that fits both my taste and budget :-)
Silent protest on the Doel streets
Earlier this year I went to the free film festival Pluk de Nacht. One night I was there they showed a short documentary about Doel (“Doel leeft” by Tom Fassaert). It’s a little village in Belgium waiting to be demolished completely for the expansion of the Antwerp port. The documentary showed the last inhabitants that were unable or unwilling to move. Pretty depressing and surreal situation which the documentary showed perfectly.
Last weekend I went to Antwerp and via Twitter I was reminded about Doel. Took the car and in the middle of nowhere we found the town. Even more empty than in the documentary, it was a true ghost town. The one nice thing about it was the abundance of (street) art. Luckily I had my DSLR with me so in the short time I was there I quickly shot some pictures. Via a friend I found a great Flickr set of someone who has been there the same day I was. It’s still unclear when the town will be wiped off the map, but if you want to see it for yourself you’ll have to hurry up.
Last week I finally went to London again. Shopping was of course on my list and a visit to my favourite bookstore Waterstones was on it too. I came across a little book with a well-known cover (see picture below) with the famous quote: “Keep Calm and Carry On”. The history of this brilliant quote is pretty cool: it was originally designed as a motivational poster during World War II but never used, only to be discovered 60 years later it turned into an icon.
The book is full with similarly motivational and cheering quotes, proverbs, mantras and wry truths to help us through the recession (instead of WW II). I wanted to share some quotes yesterday already, but then I took one advise to heart (“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live” – Lin Yutang). Some others worth sharing:
“There is more to life than increasing its speed” – Mahatma Gandhi – I’m sometimes guilty of wanting too much too quickly, often blame it on my enthusiasm and getting things done NOW. Some patience never hurt anyone though.
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how” – Friedrich Nietzsche – Luckily I have a lot of things going for me so I never had to ask the question ‘why?’ yet.
“It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it” – John Steinbeck – True all the way.
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy” – Guillaume Apollinaire – Have been getting better at this lately, feels good. Hope you do too!
Cliche, but so true! This idea has inspired Justin McMurray to start pixtories: a website where people can submit their own picture with that special story behind it. There’s only one restriction, the one-liner that accompanies the picture shouldn’t be longer than 140 characters. This is what Justin has to say about it on his weblog:
“It’s based on the idea that everyone has their favourite photos but often the context of a photo – why it’s important or significant – is hidden. It might be a special moment, bring back a certain memory, have personal meaning or just be something you love for some reason. Pixtories is about revealing these stories which are limited to 140 characters to help sharpen your storytelling focus.”
"Ibiza. I was looking for a broom and I found a wedding dress. I couldn't stop laughing. It was a perfect day." Submitted by @saradotdub
The picture above is my favourite entry so far. Since I love the project I gave it a go myself. Want to add yours too? You can check the instructions here or send the photo + short story to pixtories@gmail.com.
“We want more”, the words you (and I) scream between a band leaving the stage and going back on for the encore. Whatever happens backstage during this magic moment normally stays a secret. Photographer Daniel Cohen reveals a little bit with his work. At the two great Amsterdam venues Paradiso and Melkweg he shot musicians like The Kooks, Erykah Badu and dEUS when they came right of the stage and before going back on for the encore. On his website Daniel says the following:
It’s not meant to be a portrait, rather a capture of this moment backstage. This pure moment in time thrives with energy and vulnerability, a backstage moment of rest in the eye of the storm, while the crowd on the other side screams for more.
Erykah Badu in Paradiso, 2008 ©Daniel Cohen
Check out the exhibition from 1 October – 1 November in the Melkweg Galerie (Marnixstraat 409, open Wednesday till Sunday from 13.00 tot 20.00). On Friday 23th and Saturday 24th Daniel will be signing his book “We Want More”.
I’ve mentioned previously that I believe in the statement ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’. Well, I believe in it so much that I decided to get a WGACA tattoo. I got the font Soraya (by Jakob Nylund) through the great Copenhagen Bitchslap Magazine.
What Goes Around Comes Around ftw
Earlier this week my colleague tweeted about a post on bangitout.com on random thoughts of people our age. These were just too damn funny so I had to share it! The following are the ones where I was happy because I realised I’m not the only one :-):
As a passionate biker in Amsterdam I of course disagree with this one:
Want to read them all? Check it out here.
